In our digital age, it is becoming increasingly easier to create and duplicate flat artwork. Posters and photographs can be produced in a staggering variety of media, sizes and proportions, for comparatively little money.
The frames that display artwork are just as important a consideration. They are a design statement in their own right: thin, thick, with a matt, wood, plastic or metal. Furthermore, the material covering the artwork can determine how long it lasts—thin acetate on one end of the spectrum, and ultraviolet light-resistant, glare-free, museum quality glass on the other end. When you add up all of the materials that go into framing artwork, the frame and glass can often be more expensive than the artwork itself.
What to do, then, when one wants the artwork itself to be the statement? Until now, the options are museum putty, or sandwiching the artwork between two sheets of glass, a sheet of acetate and Masonite and clipping them together. Museum putty is quick, cheap and convenient, but stains paint and loses its adherence over time. Tacks and push pins also technically work, but they create holes, and are unsightly. For larger pictures, such as movie posters, the art often tears off the tacks, falling to the floor. Acetate and Masonite poster hanging kits are widely available in chain craft and hobby stores, but what if you can't find it in the right size? Two pieces of sheet glass look most professional, but where do you find the hardware to hold it together? And again, where can you have it custom made? What if there was a way to display flat artwork of any height and width on a wall without the expense and bother of frames, and with only simple tools?